The Southern Section of the Rock and the Bay
1. Isla del perejil q’ues donde an de azer el desembarco de la gente que a de venir en los navios mercantes.
In English - The Island of Perjil is where people arriving on merchant ships should disembark.
2. las candelas
No idea what this refers to.
10. Muelle de la aguada
A precursor to Ragged Staff
11.Muelle Viejo
Should read Muelle Nuevo
Contemporary Spanish plan showing the old Mole to the north, the New on the south and the “Muelle de la Aguada” in between (1740 Diego Sanchez)
12. El FozoLandport Ditch
The relationship between Landport Gate and its Ditch as conceived by Luis Bravo de Acuña - the fellow who created it (1627 - detail)
13. Bateria de punta de Europa
Europa Point battery
14. Cuarteles de Punta de Europa
Europa Point Barracks - The Chapel of our Lady of Europa was in use as both a store and a guard house at the time. Nevertheless the fact that Francisco Perez de Tapia decided to identify his barrack as consisting of two rather large twin buildings leads me suppose that he was referring to the Soldier’s Barrack - later known as South Barracks - which was built in the 1730s. It was and still is probably one of the largest buildings ever constructed in Gibraltar by the Military authorities. If so, the map shows the building in the wrong place. It lies within the Rosia area (see LINK), well to the north of Europa Flats and Windmill Hill.
South Barracks from somewhere in Rosia in the late 19th century and a copy of the original plans for the barracks by Gibraltar’s Military Engineer at the time James Montressor
15. puerta de europa
Also known as Puerta Nueba (sic) and Puerta de Africa. The British knew it as Southport Gate.
16. Muralla de Carlos quinto (See LINK)
Charles V Wall - shown in the right place and including its distinctive zig-zag shape as it climbs up the mountain - to its left what was then known as an old Moorish wall but is in fact Phillip II Wall - is not labelled.
40. Alxeciras
The town of Algeciras practically uninhabited for centuries after it was destroyed by by Muhammad V of Granada in 1368.
For reasons that are not immediately apparent to me it was often referred to as Old Gibraltar in certain maps. After the exodus of the Spanish population of Gibraltar in 1704 many of the people who were forced to leave settled there. By the time Don Francisco's map created his map its population was already on the increase.
Plan of Algeciras in 1724
41. Ysla de las Palomas
More commonly known as Isla Verde - a Spanish translation of it Arabic name which was “al-Jazirah al-Khadra” and from which Algeciras itself got its name.
Plan of Isla de las Palomas (1745)
42. torre de cuatro esquinas It is identified in the same place in Francisco del Pozo Aldana’s 1762 plan of the Bay I can’t find any tower by that name but it might be the four cornered tower - la Torre de los Adalides.
Torre de los Adalides.
43. Punta del Carnero Punta Carnero - a medieval beacon tower called La Torre del Fraile de Punta Carnero
also identified by Aldana - still exists today albeit as a ruin.
Torre del Fraile
44. Boca del estrechoThe mouth of the Strait of Gibraltar
45. Sierrabuyonis
Sierra Bullones is an old Spanish name for Gebel Musa known as Apes Hill by the British.
“Sierra Bullones” as seen across the Strait from Gibraltar (1853 - Lady Patrick - Ape's Hill) (See LINK)
Looked at from a more or less Gestalt point of view the “Map” is not quite as inaccurate as it appears at first sight. Whether it would have proved of any use to the invaders had they succeeded is another matter.
See also:
1758 - A Plan to Invade Gibraltar - Introduction
1758 - A Plan to Invade Gibraltar - Northern Section
1758 - A Plan to Invade Gibraltar - Middle Section
With thanks to genealogist Georgina Marks who supplied me with all the information I needed to write the above. All the mistakes are mine. Thank you Georgina.